1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a laminated electronic component wherein magnetic layers and conductive patterns for coil are sequentially provided, a coil pattern is enclosed between the magnetic layers inside a laminated body, and a nonmagnetic section is provided between adjacent conductive patterns for coil.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventional laminated electronic components include, for example, an inductance element comprising coil patterns enclosed between magnetic layers inside a laminated body, as shown in FIG. 5. This laminated electronic component is made by alternately printing magnetic layers 51 and conductive patterns for coil 52, and connecting the conductive patterns for coil 52 between the magnetic layers so that their tips overlap, forming a coil pattern. In this type of laminated electronic component, the conductive patterns for coil are completely buried in the magnetic material, and for this reason the flow of magnetic flux does not attain an ideal distribution of xcfx861 and xcfx862, but there is leakage flux as represented by xcfx86A and xcfx86B. Furthermore, in this laminated electronic component, the direction of current flowing in the conductive patterns for coil, which are adjacent to each other at top and bottom with the magnetic layers therebetween, is reversed, and the direction of the magnetic flux generated by this current is also reversed. Therefore, this type of conventional laminated electronic component has poor magnetic coupling and cannot obtain a large inductance.
To solve such problems, there is a laminated electronic component which is made by alternately printing magnetic layers 61 and conductive patterns for coil 62, connecting the conductive patterns for coil 62 between the magnetic layers so that their tips overlap, thereby forming a coil pattern, and providing nonmagnetic sections 63 between adjacent top and bottom conductive patterns for coil. In this type of laminated electronic component, since the nonmagnetic sections 63 are provided between adjacent top and bottom conductive patterns for coil, any magnetic flux attempting to flow between the adjacent top and bottom conductive patterns for coil is blocked by the nonmagnetic sections, achieving ideal distribution of magnetic flux.
Such a laminated electronic component is manufactured as shown in FIGS. 7A to 7C. Firstly, a conductive pattern for coil 72 is printed on a magnetic layer 71. Next, a magnetic paste is printed on a half-face of the magnetic layer 71 in such a way that the conductive pattern for coil 72 is exposed, and a groove 74 is provided in the magnetic layer 73. Then, a nonmagnetic material is printed in the groove to form a nonmagnetic section 75, and a conductive pattern for coil is printed with its end section overlapping the end section of conductive pattern for coil in the lower layer.
In recent years, laminated electronic components of this type are being miniaturized in line with the miniaturization of the electronic devices which they are mounted in. In view of this, the width of the grooves in such conventional laminated electronic components tend to become narrow when the component is miniaturized, leading to problems that the magnetic paste blots and breaks in the groove at the time of forming the magnetic layer, making it impossible to form the nonmagnetic section. Moreover, since the magnetic layer is provided on each half-face in the conventional laminated electronic component, the unevenness of the printed face increases each time a layer is added, adversely affecting the printing precision of the conductive pattern for coil, the magnetic layer, and the nonmagnetic section.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a method for manufacturing a laminated electronic component in which a nonmagnetic section can be provided between the conductive patterns for coil, and the printing precision of the conductive patterns for coil and the magnetic layers can be increased, even when the laminated electronic component is miniaturized.
The method for manufacturing laminated electronic component of the present invention achieves the above objects by improving the method of forming grooves in the magnetic layers, the timing of their formation, and their shape.
According to one aspect, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing the laminated electronic component, in which magnetic layers and conductive patterns for coil are sequentially provided, a coil pattern is enclosed between the magnetic layers inside a laminated body, and a nonmagnetic section is provided between adjacent conductive patterns for coil, the coil pattern being provided by repeatedly performing a first step of providing a second magnetic layer over the entire top face of a first magnetic layer, which a first conductive pattern for coil is provided on; a second step of providing a loop-shaped groove in the second magnetic layer by using laser processing; a third step of providing a nonmagnetic section in one portion of the loop-shaped groove; and a fourth step of printing a second conductive pattern for coil so that one end section thereof overlaps the end section of the first conductive pattern for coil and the other end section extends to the surface of the nonmagnetic section.
According to another aspect, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing a laminated electronic component, in which magnetic layers and conductive patterns for coil are sequentially provided, a coil pattern is enclosed between the magnetic layers inside a laminated body, and a nonmagnetic section is provided between adjacent conductive patterns for coil, the coil pattern being provided by repeatedly performing a first step of providing a second magnetic layer over the entire top face of a first magnetic layer, which a first conductive pattern for coil is provided on; a second step of providing a loop-shaped groove in the second magnetic layer by using laser processing; a third step of providing a nonmagnetic section in the loop-shaped groove; and a fourth step of providing a through-hole in the nonmagnetic section at a position corresponding to an end section of the conductive pattern for coil by using laser processing, and printing a conductive pattern for coil on the surface of the nonmagnetic section.
According to another aspect, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing the laminated electronic component, in which magnetic layers and conductive patterns for coil are sequentially provided, a coil pattern is enclosed between the magnetic layers inside a laminated body, and a nonmagnetic section is provided between adjacent conductive patterns for coil, the coil pattern being provided by repeatedly performing a first step of printing a second magnetic layer over the entire top face of a first magnetic layer, which a first conductive pattern for coil is provided on; a second step of providing a loop-shaped groove in the second magnetic layer by using laser processing; a third step of providing a nonmagnetic section in one portion of the loop-shaped groove; and a fourth step of printing a second conductive pattern for coil so that one end section thereof overlaps the end section of the first conductive pattern for coil and the other end section extends to the surface of the nonmagnetic section.
According to another aspect, the present invention provides a method for manufacturing the laminated electronic component, in which magnetic layers and conductive patterns for coil are sequentially provided, a coil pattern is enclosed between the magnetic layers inside a laminated body, and a nonmagnetic section is provided between adjacent conductive patterns for coil, the coil pattern being provided by repeatedly performing a first step of providing a second magnetic layer by laminating magnetic sheets over the top face of a first magnetic layer, which a first conductive pattern for coil is provided on; a second step of providing a loop-shaped groove in the second magnetic layer by using laser processing; a third step of providing a nonmagnetic section in one portion of the loop-shaped groove; and a fourth step of printing a second conductive pattern for coil so that one end section thereof overlaps the end section of the first conductive pattern for coil and the other end section extends to the surface of the nonmagnetic section.
According to the method for manufacturing the laminated electronic component of the present invention, after the second magnetic layer has been provided over the entire top face of the first magnetic layer, which a first conductive pattern for coil is provided on, a loop-shaped groove is provided in the second magnetic layer by laser processing at a position which corresponds to the lamination position of the conductive pattern for coil and a nonmagnetic section. A nonmagnetic section is provided in all or part of the loop-shaped groove by printing a nonmagnetic paste in all or part of the loop-shaped groove. When the nonmagnetic section has been provided in part of the loop-shaped groove, another conductive pattern for coil is printed so that one end section thereof overlaps the end section of the abovementioned conductive pattern for coil, which is exposed at the bottom face of the groove, and the other end section extends to the surface of the nonmagnetic section. When the nonmagnetic section has been provided in the entire loop-shaped groove, a through-hole is provided in the nonmagnetic section at a position corresponding to the end section of the conductive pattern for coil by using laser processing, and a conductive pattern for coil is printed on the surface of the nonmagnetic section. These steps are repeated until a predetermined number of turns is obtained, achieving a coil pattern having a predetermined number of turns inside a laminated body. In the laminated electronic component manufactured in this way, the second magnetic layer is provided over the entire top face of the first magnetic layer, which the first conductive pattern for coil is printed on, prior to providing the loop-shaped groove for forming a nonmagnetic section in the second magnetic layer. Therefore, the face which the mask for printing the nonmagnetic paste and the conductive paste is to be mounted on is made smooth. The groove provided in the second magnetic layer is loop-shaped, and consequently, when the nonmagnetic section is provided in part of the loop-shaped groove, blotting of the nonmagnetic paste and conductive paste is limited to the direction which the groove extends in.